Matt Millbauer is the artist behind Bird Dog Portraits. Matt uses reference photos of dogs to create beautiful, digital dog portraits by hand using his iPad and Apple Pencil on the Procreate app.
While Matt has no formal art training outside of an art elective in college, he’s enjoyed drawing and painting his entire life. He started creating these portraits during the pandemic in 2020 for friends and family and moved to social media to get more content and to give people portraits of their dogs.
Matt doesn’t charge for these portraits, instead treats it as a hobby. When customers insist on paying, he directs them to donate to their favorite habitat, conservation or dog-related charity. In Matt’s words, “If I start doing this as a job, I’ll probably stop doing it.”
On top of creating bird dog portraits and his day job, Matt also teaches at his local college, is the secretary for his local Pheasants Forever chapter, is the co-host of the Go Flush Yourself podcast and raises his two teenagers with his wife of 15 years in Kennewick, Washington. Matt is an avid upland hunter in the Pacific Northwest where he hunts over his two English springer spaniels.
You can follow Matt and request a portrait on Facebook on the Bird Dog Portraits page as well as X at @bauermill. Visit BauerMill.Shop to purchase stickers and merchandise.
